


The Human Condition

by ContumaciousCoffeeBean



Category: Original Work
Genre: Innocence, Original work - Freeform, Salem Witch Trials, Witches, assessment piece, when I started writing this it sounded like a rape fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:55:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23559448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ContumaciousCoffeeBean/pseuds/ContumaciousCoffeeBean
Summary: I always loved the smell of burning bark, the rich smoky scent was intoxicating; but now, paired with burning flesh; It wasn't as appealing. A girl, no older than I, screamed as the flames licked her body, her skin bubbling underneath. I almost emptied my stomach onto the cell floor when the smell finally hit. Her mother wailing, the townsmen were cheering and chanting all as her baby was taken from her. All I could see - and smell - was chaos...





	The Human Condition

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is an original work!! this was also an assessment piece (which I got an A - 23/25 - on) please don't steal this I had a hard time writing this because apparently I need to be on the piss and bawling to write... anyway my assessment was to use the themes from a book to create a new story (or I could've done a chapter intervention and write from another character's POV - but that's boring... please enjoy 😊- Samuel (OC T1 10 22) <\-- so I can prove it's me if I need to 👌

I always loved the smell of burning bark, the rich smoky scent was intoxicating; but now, paired with burning flesh; It wasn't as appealing.

A girl, no older than I, screamed as the flames licked her body, her skin bubbling underneath. I almost emptied my stomach onto the cell floor when the smell finally hit. Her mother wailing, the townsmen were cheering and chanting all as her baby was taken from her. All I could see - and smell - was chaos.

I watched, mouth agape as the light drained from her glassy blue eyes, her face soaked in sweat and tears. I wanted to scream; to cry.

The governor and council members stood on the platform beside the girl. The screams didn’t faze them in the slightest; too proud of the mess they had made. I wished I was the monster they thought I was; I prayed to God that I could make them suffer as they had the girl. But God isn't the saviour that we're lead to believe. I hung my head and sobbed quietly till the screams, turned whimpers had stopped...

Until she drew her last.

~-~

It started with the sickness. The whole town of Salem was “infected with black magic” they claimed. Men preached the healthy were possessed by the devil himself; that they were using witchcraft to make the town suffer. With that, chaos ensued, and nobody was safe.

All of this over a stupid cough. Its cure: pointing fingers, maiming and executing innocents.

They ripped women and children from their homes kicking and screaming bloody murder. Mothers wailed as their children were torn from their arms. All the men could do was follow as hypocrites, or they too would join in her fate.

The town was falling apart, in a desperate attempt to bring order, the council united the people under a common enemy: witches. The townsmen didn’t know any better, blindly following orders to “save the town”.

It was as if the townsmen were a flock of sheep and we, the “witches”, were the wolves; only the sheep were fighting back.

~-~

Three men left the wooden platform and made a b-line for my cell. Their footsteps were deafening. The door was thrown open and clanged loudly against the bared wall. I ran to my cell bed shaking. Rough hands grabbed at my legs, dragging me from my cell bed yelling curses.

It was my turn.

I clawed at the frame but to no avail. Tumbling onto the cold dirt floor kicking and screaming. My head cracked on the hard floor, vision blurred and mind hazy. Dark figures were on top of me. They ripped away my dress as I struggled in the dirt. I kick out at where my attackers were, but in vain as they bound my ankles and wrists with rough rope. Sobbing, I stopped struggling and lay still.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the world spun around me, my head pissing blood. I could do nothing as a rugged man hauled me over his burly shoulder and carried me out across the courtyard to the stake. I felt like a pig left for slaughter, unwanted and outcasted. The breeze made me shiver and squirm. I could already feel bruises forming on my legs where I’d been grabbed and had landed heavily on the floor.

I felt defeated, utterly useless.

I was thrown onto the wooden platform; a rouge nail met my ribs. I gasped and bit my lip trying to muffle my shriek.

Sir William Phips, the Governor of Massachusetts – more like Maniac of Massachusetts – worked the crowd, I heard men preach and cheer; I couldn’t care enough to listen. My mind ran a mile trying to make sense of what was about to happen.

Everything hit at once.

All of this just because I didn’t want to drown. The town was crazed, on a wild witch hunt. There was no fair trial. If you were suspected to practice witchcraft, you were dead. You either drowned and were found innocent or be condemned and burned.

I was hauled up off the wood floor, my ribs burning as I was positioned on the stake.

I tried to kick, I screamed. “Mercy, please! I beg of you…” but was met with a swift uppercut to my stomach. My vision exploded with white crippling pain.

“Don’t try witch, nobody is going to save you now…” he hauled me to my feet and slammed my broken body against the stake.

It was only till I looked down, I realised I was standing on the charred remains of the girl that came before me. I panned from her ashs up to stare at the townsmen; their eyes filled with bloodlust. Some preached and yelled obscenities.

I couldn’t blame them; they were under the council’s thumb.

Tears rolled down my bloodied cheeks, a scream ripped from my lungs as they finished chaining me up. “You’re all insane, looking for something that’s not there. You’re fighting an invisible enemy…” My eyes squeezed shut as if it would stop the world spinning.

The wait felt like an eternity. I just wanted to die at this point. I didn’t want to live in a world where man could turn so easily on his kin.

~-~

Once again, the intoxicating smell of burning bark filled my senses. I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with smoke and ash.

Finally feeling safe and warm.

My ribs protesting but I didn’t care anymore. It was euphoric.

I didn’t care as the fire climbed up my body. I couldn’t scream, I wouldn’t; I wouldn’t let them have the satisfaction. I was drowning in a sea of smoke. My problems washed away.My eyes closed and head lolled to the side; I wouldn’t let them have the last laugh.

Governor Phips was visibly annoyed.

What followed next could only be described as peace. I was free of those who'd cage me, who threw away my identity and tore me from my family.

Why?

All because “I was a witch”…

**Author's Note:**

> yeaaaaa this part ...  
> “Don’t try witch, nobody is going to save you now…”   
> I know it's cringe and very original but I needed to have dialogue and I assumed this is something they'd've said. if you have anymore suggestions as to how I can improve please let me know   
> \- Ciao


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